Alison's Quick Connects -- Friday, May 1, 2026

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Quick connects:

• Hoeven advances North Dakota priorities with Interior Secretary Burgum -- John Hoeven

• Letter: North Dakota needs to isolate economy from global petroleum market -- InForum

• Senator Hoeven pushing Crack the Code 2.0 initiative for coal-fired plants -- KX News

• Conservation organizations protest gas and oil sites near national park -- Dickinson Press

• Bakken remains central to US energy security with some of the finest light, sweet crude on earth -- InForum

• Fedorchak secured clarity for ND producers regarding the Biden-era methane rule -- Julie Fedorchak

• Senator Hoeven explains that we import foreign oil due to mismatch in refining capacity -- KFYR-TV

• North Dakota Industrial Commission votes to commit up to $500M to natgas pipeline -- North Dakota Monitor

• PSC approves power project to serve data center under construction north of Fargo -- North Dakota Monitor

• Trump signs measure stripping protections from Minnesota wilderness area, opening it to mining -- The Hill

• Volatile markets drive North Dakota oil prices as 'Bakken Express' nears launch -- McKenzie County Farmer

• North Dakota oil and gas production continues to see effects from war in Middle East -- The Journal

• Write-in candidate could take late North Dakota legislator's spot in general election -- North Dakota Monitor

• How North Dakota will handle District 11 ballot in wake of passing of Rep. Liz Conmy -- KFYR-TV

• Port: Term limits amendment complicates the process of replacing State Rep. Liz Conmy -- Williston Herald

• Study recommends changes to state legislative calendar in response to term limits -- North Dakota Monitor

• Issue spotlight: Where North Dakota US House candidates stand on the Iran war -- North Dakota Monitor

• Poll shows North Dakotans split on military action in Iran; concern high on gas prices -- North Dakota Monitor

• State lawmakers fail to submit financial disclosure form despite a new law requiring it -- North Dakota Monitor

• Health care worker numbers rising in ND; doctors, physician's assistants see increases -- Dickinson Press

• Pro-business ND Republicans still enjoy strong majority, but there are cracks in the foundation. -- InForum

• North Dakota Department of Commerce opens Innovate ND Grant applications, due May 14 -- KX News

• FAA awards $17.9 millions to 20 airport infrastructure projects across North Dakota -- Dickinson Press

• North Dakota tribal redistricting case still in limbo after Voting Rights Act decision -- North Dakota Monitor

• Next round of federal rural health grants to promote fitness, community gardens -- North Dakota Monitor

• Increasing the fleet: Mercer County Commission acts on significant equipment purchases -- The Beacon

• How Mercer County officials are incorporating public comments into data center ordinances -- The Beacon

• McClusky Gazette seeks buyer; without one, Sheridan County may become news desert -- Dickinson Press

• Officials' leadership recognized during North Dakota League of Cities' Spring Workshop -- Minot Daily News

• Entrepreneurship is vital to overall financial wellbeing of rural communities -- Bowman County Pioneer

• Breakdown of the $232 million proposal to begin Sentinel upgrades on Minot Air Force Base -- KFYR-TV

• Global Strike Command leader: Modernization efforts critical to nation's nuclear defense -- Minot Daily News

• Divide County Commission receives updates on present and future county road projects -- The Journal

• Fire destroys two-story residence with attached garage in McKenzie County -- McKenzie County Farmer

• Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library is not 'progress' for everyone in Medora -- North Dakota Monitor

• Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library shares updates on opening week, America 250 -- Dickinson Press

• Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library executive director receives NDSU Horizon Award -- Dickinson Press

• Minot Public School Board holds first round of contract negotiations with the teachers' union -- KFYR-TV

• Area high school students selected to attend the North Dakota Leadership Seminar -- Minot Daily News

• From classroom to community: Dickinson students design affordable housing solutions -- Dickinson Press

• $28.5 million agricultural research expansion moving from Maryland to UND and NDSU -- Williston Herald

• Department of Public Instruction proposes tighter guidelines for four-day school week approval -- KFYR-TV

• Port: North Dakota public school schedules should be driven by academics, not athletics -- Williston Herald

• Garden Valley Elementary School reflects on year of innovations, continuing challenges -- Williston Herald

• Dickinson State first college in the state to test a reduced-credit bachelor's degree -- North Dakota Monitor

• $4.8 million recovered from Dickinson Public School scam, still not returned to school -- Dickinson Press

• Killdeer Public Schools superintendent announces upcoming shift to four-day week schedule -- The Beacon

• Trump to pay energy companies to abandon offshore wind ambitions and invest in fossil fuels -- The Hill

• National average gas prices at highest level in four years as result of US-Israeli conflict in Iran -- The Hill

• US signs energy and AI deals worth billions with Balkan countries as its influence widens -- Reuters

• At least six Iranian tankers laden with oil seen loitering near Hormuz port as US blockage tightens -- Oil Price

• The cost of building new U.S. gas-fired power plants increased 66 percent from 2023 to 2025 -- E&E News

• US consumer confidence inches higher in April despite Iran war and soaring gasoline prices -- KX News

• Experts say gas prices won't drop anytime soon; pointing to seasonal demand and global factors -- InForum

• Researchers in China develop modified balsa wood that could make wood part of energy grid -- Oil Price

• Energy crisis triggered by Middle East conflict could hurt EU consumers, industries for years -- Oil Price

• US continues to pile pressure on Iran outside Strait of Hormuz as Trump signals blockade yielding -- Oil Price

• UAE's shocking OPEC exit: What it means for the oil cartel's future and for crude prices -- CNBC

• These Asian nations return to coal for energy in the wake of Hormuz disruption -- The National Interest

• For the first time, a nuclear fusion developer requests connection to a US regional power grid -- E&E News

• House Judiciary ramps up probe into various climate groups improperly influencing judges -- EID Climate

• Climate science's biggest shift in decades: IPCC's scary RCP8.5 is officially dead -- The Honest Broker

• The Trump administration is finally giving Congress a climate change reality check -- Issues and Insights

• EPA Admin Lee Zeldin ignites headed exchange after stumping House Dem on SCOTUS cases -- Fox News

Friday Night -- May 1, 2026

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Trump, Friday night:

• letter to Congress: the war is over between Iran and the US;
• memo to the EU: executive order declaring 25% tariff on autos coming into US

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Back to the Bakken

WTI:

Active rigs:

new permits, 

The Big Airlines Won -- Killed A Discount Airline -- May 1, 2026

Locator: 50684SPIRIT.

Query: Didn't some other airline try to merge with Spirit Airlines but the merger was shut down by the regulators?

Reply: if folks can't see how and why this played out, they're not paying attention.

 

Relationship Between The Military And AI -- This Is Not Trivial -- And Not Lost On Savvy Investors -- May 1, 2026

Locator: 50683AI.

One needs to read the history of Palo Alto by Malcolm Harris to get a feeling of what this is all about. This is more than the Industrial Revolution on steroids. It's much, much more.  

Newest wrinkle. From Fox News, May 1, 2026:

Query: 

With the announcement of taking out underwater mines, what do we know about Domino Data Lab?

Reply:

Rambling On AI: Cognitive Dissonance --> Stanford --> H. Bruce Franklin --> Stanley Kubrick --> Dr Strangelove --> HAL In "2001" -- May 1, 2026

Locator: 50682MEMES.

Yesterday I was sent a meme from a reader regarding AI's likely effect on education. I was curious. What would AI itself say? LOL.

Pretty amazing:

Query: a recent meme that AI would eliminate 60% of teachers and 40% of administrators. 

Reply: 

The meme I was sent confused me; it bothered me. It resulted in cognitive dissonance. Severe cognitive dissonance. The problem: the definition of "teachers" and "administrators." 

It appears that the originator of that meme was also confused: confused about the "origin" of the "60%."  The explanation should be reassuring to educators.

I was going to ignore the meme and then, today, while reading the history of H. Bruce Franklin, a communist, graduate student at Stanford University during the Korean War, ROTC, air force intelligence officer, graduated with a PhD in English literature, collapsed my cognitive dissonance. For those interested that history is on pages 336 - 337, Palo Alto, Malcolm Harris, c. 2023. 

From the book:

Franklin finished his doctorate in a shockingly quick two years and, confirming his golden boy status, the department asked him to stay on as an associate professor, an invitation they hadn't offered one of their own grad students in more than 30 years. Four years later, in 1965, at the age of thirty-one, he received tenure. He wrote introductions for new editions of Hawthorne and Melville and could look forward to a long career as a prominent American, as they're called. But then there was the war.

By the time Franklin left the air force for Stanford, in 1959, the Cold War was well underway, and Lieutenant Franklin knew more about how it actually worked than almost anyone did. The Strategic Air Command was the centerpiece of American military strategy, and he saw its underside.

I wonder if Stanley Kubrick knew of / knew / read anything by Franklin that inspired him to co-write, produce and direct Dr Strangelove. Yes, I asked ChatGPT -- the answer, as usual, was incredible. 

Link here. Dr Strangelove's doppelgänger? Elon Musk.  

Amazing where ChatGPT took me at this point. I may post that at a later date, but it's way too long to cut, copy, and paste now.

Back to the meme -- once you start talking to home schooling parents, one realizes that the number of teachers and administrators will actually grow over time. However, they will be called something different, and they will earn a whole more money.  

Sort of what the iPhone / streaming / Spotify did for music and musicians. Lana Del Rey was one of the products of that phenomenon. 

One hour of Lana's music: link here. 

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The Book Page

The Annotated Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant, Elizabeth D. Samet, c. 2019. A huge, heavy book. Incredibly good. 

Bespoke Journalism -- TGIF -- Part 2 -- May 1, 2026

Locator: 50681B.

WAR POWERS ACT: link here. 

Hegseth: with regard to Congressional "war crimes" testimony, I'm only unhappy with one aspect of Hegseth's testimony: his failure to utter in reply with one word: Auschwitz. 

Iran: new proposal from Iran has been delivered to Pakistan. Tea leaves: another day or two of this bullshit and Trump will ask Iran: Why are you going to/through Pakistan? I'm a phone call away. This is getting tedious." Actually, perhaps even better for Iran? Go through Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer in Washington, DC. Both are just down the street from the White House.

Sandisk: a huge traditional hedge fund has just raised Sandisk's price target from $1,000 to $2,000. This will raise all memory boats. 

Mythos: Pentagon CTO confirms Anthropic is still blacklisted, but says Mythos is a “separate national security moment." Exactly what that means is anybody's guess but if you have three guesses, the first two won't count.

CAT: Barron's -- CAT can rise another 30%. Holy mackerel. I'll be happy with another 25%.

Get the map out: new pipeline to bypass the strait.

Iraq has begun constructing a ~ 420-mile, 2.25–2.5 million bpd pipeline from Basra to Haditha (Anbar province) to diversify export routes and bypass the high-risk Strait of Hormuz. From Haditha, the oil is planned to be transported to Jordan’s Aqaba port, Syria’s Baniyas port, and Türkiye’s Ceyhan port, while also supplying domestic refineries. 

Venezuela: getting more and more headlines. 

• Two headlines:
• Venezuela will drop out of OPEC+; and,
• US oil companies now en masse looking at Venezuela
• tea leaves: the Iranian blockade and a "Manhattan-Project-style" initiative to open Venezuela will be the one-two punch to make the Mideast irrelevant.

Pemex: reported a $2.6 billion loss for Q1 2026, despite oil prices nearing $100 /bbl due to global conflict. High debt ($79 billion), increased operating costs, foreign exchange losses, and lower export volumes drove the loss. The results highlight how financial burdens can offset high oil prices.

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Apple

This was a record for this quarter; and, even more significantly, there have only been three quarters in the history of AAPL that earnings have been higher (need to confirm; could be four quarters -- doesn't matter -- the point is -- one of the historical slowest quarters in the Apple full fiscal year beat out almost every Christmas quarter in the history of Apple. Not trivial. 

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The Book Page

 

History of Palo Alto, Malcom Harris, c. 2023. Notes here and here.  Pending.

Keystone XL Is Dead -- Long Live Keystone XL Lite -- May 1, 2026

Locator: 50680BRIDGER.

Bridger aka Keystone XL Lite: biggest oil pipeline story in Trump's two terms. Doug Burgum is Secretary of Interior. I assume it would have been in his bailiwick to get this done. His reward: one of a handful of cabinet members to be invited to the state/royal dinner for King Charles III of Great Britain.

Link here. Bill signed yesterday, April 30, 2026.

Link here. 

From the blog: the Keystone XL is now the Bridger Expansion. Link here. February 23, 2026.

From the blog: hope springs eternal; Bridger Expansion aka Keystone XL. February 23, 2026. Link here.

From the blog: wow, wow, wow. This goes all the way back to April 23, 2022! Link here. 250,000-bbl crude oil pipeline proposed -- "Bakken oil to national pipeline system in lieu of Keystone XL -- link here. 

• who was president in 2022? Oh, that's right, Joe Biden;
• capacity of proposed pipeline: initial / max -- 105,000 / 250,000 
• vs Keystone XL, 830,000 bbls oil per day 
• 730,000 bopd heavy oil from Canada
• 100,000 bopd light oil from the Bakken
• Baker, MT: where TC Energy proposed an on-ramp for about 100,000 bopd of Bakken crude on its now abandoned Keystone XL pipeline.

From the blog: actually the proposal goes back a lot farther. Link here. Update on proposed "Bridger Expansion." The pipeline will avoid Nebraska. Link here. Will avoid Nebraska, LOL.

From the blog, all the way back to November 10, 2018, link here. New Bakken pipeline announced; meanwhile, a Montana judge kills the Keystone XL (again). The proposed pipeline:
 

• a Berkshire Hathaway Company

• The True companies, based in Casper, WY:
• Bridger Pipeline LLC
• Belle Fourche Pipeline Company
• Butte Pipe Line Company
• see also PSX Liberty Pipeline 

Trump Lake Or Trump Strait? May 1, 2026

Locator: 50679TRUMP.

From April 30, 2026:

From May 1, 2026:

Why not both?

 

 

TGIF -- May 1, 2026

Word for the day: bailiwick: 

A bailiwick is the territorial jurisdiction of a bailiff, originating from medieval. It historically refers to a "bailiff’s village," though today it commonly signifies a person's specific area of expertise, interest, or authority. It still functions as a governing unit in the British Crown Dependencies Guernsey and Jersey.

Locator: 50678B.

AAPL: what to do? But first read the blog's disclaimer. This is not an investment site. 

Easiest decision ever -- but two different answers, depending on whether one is a trader or an investor with a long time horizon. The March quarter numbers were somewhere between "Goldilocks" and "awesome." AAPL: up $10 at the open. Actually, now, four minutes into trading, AAPL is up $11.77 / share. It's hard to believe that BRK/Buffett sold so much (actually, any) of its/his AAPL. What were they thinking? Oh, that's right. China was getting ready to aggressively move in on Taiwan. 

Iran: Democrats side with Iran -- "END THE BLOCKADE NOW!" 

AI bubble? Deep pockets fund AI. Pentagon makes deals with Nvidia, MSFT, and AWS to expand us of AI in classified networks. 

Of note, the best AI out there has not yet been invited to the party: Anthropic. But Anthropic's rival ChatGPT (OpenAI) did make the Pentagon list. Who else was left out? According to Barron's, the notable absentee was META. This is a bigger deal that folks realize. 

If you want to know how big a deal this is, read The History of Palo Alto by Malcolm Harris. 

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Back to the Bakken 

Bridger aka Keystone XL Lite: biggest oil pipeline story in Trump's two terms. Doug Burgum is Secretary of Interior. I assume it would have been his bailiwick. 

WTI: $104.20. Down slightly.

New wells reporting:

• Sunday, May 3, 2026: 9 for the month, 109 for the quarter, 266 for the year,  
• 42379, conf, Silver Hill Energy, Nebraska E 158-92-5-29-20MBHX
• 42187, conf, BR, Omlid 8-8-7-TFH-ULW, 
• Saturday, May 2, 2026: 7 for the month, 107 for the quarter, 264 for the year,  
• 42205, conf, Silver Hill Energy, Nebraska E 158-92-5-29-3MBHX, 
• Friday, May 1, 2026: 6 for the month, 106 for the quarter, 263 for the year,  
• 42204, conf, Silver Hill Energy, Texas E 158-92-8-20-3MBHX, 
• 42104, conf, Hunt Oil, Meyer 155-90-31-30H-3,
• 42103, conf, Hunt Oil, Burke 155-90-36-25H-2,
• 41644, conf, Hess, EN-Rohde-157-94-3625H-3,
• 41613, conf, BR, Sivertson 6H, 
• 40960, conf, Hess, EN-Rohde-157-94-3625H-2, 

RBN Energy: the coming battle for gas between LNG exports and southeast generation. Link here.  

Natural gas demand is building fast along the Gulf Coast. New LNG export terminals in Texas and Louisiana. New data centers, new industrial facilities and new power generation as far east as Florida. And new gas pipelines and pipeline expansion projects to help deliver the incremental gas that will be required. That’s all baked in. What’s still far from certain is where all the needed gas will come from, and how intense the battle for gas supply will become by the early 2030s. As we discuss in today’s RBN blog, the second in a series, early indications are that it will be a battle royale.

In Part 1, we said that while we’ve blogged about rising demand for gas in the southeastern U.S. and the pipeline projects being planned to deliver more gas to the region, there’s more to the story. That “bigger picture” is that gas consumers in the Southeast — a region that, for our purposes here, includes Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia and South Carolina — increasingly find themselves competing for supply with LNG exporters in Louisiana as well as power generators and other gas consumers north of them in Tennessee, North Carolina and Virginia.

We noted that gas-demand growth in the southeastern U.S. has been coming on fast and furious over the past few years, constraining the legacy gas pipeline networks there and resulting in the SONAT (Southern Natural Gas), Florida Zone 3 and Transco Zone 4 price trading points being among the very few locations where gas is priced at a premium to Henry Hub for most of the year. And we discussed the pipeline systems that deliver gas to the region (solid lines in Figure 1 below), the new pipelines and expansion projects being planned to increase flows (dashed lines), and the long list of gas-fired power plants being built.

Figure 1. Existing and Planned Natural Gas Pipelines in the Southeast. Source: RBN